Germany Genealogical Records
Germany Birth & Baptism Records
An index to over 37 million birth and baptism records, listing parents' names.
A small index to several-hundred-thousand records from select countries.
Germany Marriage & Divorce Records
An index to over 8 million marriage records, including date and place of marriage and the names of the bride and groom.
An index to more than 30,000 marriage records, including personal details, names of relations and particulars of marriage.
Germany Death & Burial Records
An index to over 3 million death and burial records, including ages, names of relatives and other details.
A searchable database of over 1 million Jewish burials with photographs of the matzevot.
Newspapers Covering Germany
Text-searchable copies of hundreds of thousands of German newspaper articles.
An index to over 2.1 million people mentioned in Associated Press stories, including name, subject, location, date and a reference to the article.
An index to around 500,000 Associated Press articles.
An index to and digital images of hundreds-of-thousands of world newspaper articles.
Germany Immigration & Travel Records
An index to and images of lists of passengers departing Hamburg, Germany. They may list name, gender, age, date and place of birth, occupation, residence, nationality, marital status, family relationships, religion, military service and more. Contains over 5 million names.
An index to over 5 million people who departed on ships from Hamburg, Germany. The index includes name, name of ship, departure date, destination port and other details.
Transcripts of documents recording the immigration of over 4 million Germans to America. Records may include name, date and place arrived, gender, age, birthplace, occupation, literacy, departure port and more.
An index to over 40,000 people who sailed from Hamburg to Australia and New Zealand. It contains: name, former place of residence, age, occupation, ship and more.
Abstracts of details found in passenger lists, passport records, correspondence and seaman records, which may list name, age, gender, birthplace, occupation, residence, destination, emigration date and more. Most passengers were traveling to North America.
Germany Military Records
An index to and images of World War I casualty lists for the German army. The lists include over 5 million soldiers who died, were injured, or went missing during the war.
Registers recording the arrival of over 75,000 prisoners of war, political prisoners and those deemed as undesirable by the Nazi regime.
Registers recording the arrival of around 175,000 political prisoners and those deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime.
A collection of fascinating diaries and remembrances of WWI soldiers.
An index to and images records detailing the incarceration of 1.34 million military personnel, civilians, diplomats, missionaries & merchant seamen who were held as prisoners of war. The records cover British prisoners held by foreign powers and non-British prisoners held by Britain.
Germany Court & Legal Records
Registers recording the arrival of over 75,000 prisoners of war, political prisoners and those deemed as undesirable by the Nazi regime.
A collection of various camp records, transport lists, medical data cards, inmate cards, death lists, and strength reports salvaged by the United States.
Registers recording the arrival of around 175,000 political prisoners and those deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime.
A database of over 165,000 Dachau prisoners who were included on a survivors list prepared after the end of the war.
The names of over 33,000 Jews who survived the holocaust and ended up in displaced persons camps.
Germany Directories & Gazetteers
A statistic and descriptive gazetteer of nations.
Books recording the names of military officers and civil servants.
Useful for locating places, this searchable gazetteer gives brief details, latitude and longitude for more than 1.5 million features, places and regions throughout the world.
An index to and images of telephone directories for Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Munich.
A directory listing manufactures in Britain, Europe and Australasia.
Germany Cemeteries
Photographs and transcriptions of millions of gravestones from cemeteries around the world.
Germany Obituaries
Indexed images of over 400,000 obituaries of Germans from Russia who died in North America.
Germany Histories & Books
Over 7 million remembrances and historic details submitted by Ancestry members. Useful for local historians.
Over 60 million historic photographs and documents submitted to Ancestry. This rich collection contains many rare sources of interest to local historians and will be relevant to most genealogical research.
A collection of various camp records, transport lists, medical data cards, inmate cards, death lists, and strength reports salvaged by the United States.
A database of over 165,000 Dachau prisoners who were included on a survivors list prepared after the end of the war.
A collection of over 25,000 photographic postcards, depicting life and scenes in Germany and Austria. Each postcard caption has been indexed and may be searched by keyword or location.
Germany School & Education Records
An index to minutes concerning meetings helping Jewish women immigrate to the UK.
Germany Occupation & Business Records
Books recording the names of military officers and civil servants.
A directory listing manufactures in Britain, Europe and Australasia.
A database of cricket scores and players.
Pedigrees & Family Trees Covering Germany
The lineages of German, Dutch, Luxembourgish, Czech and Austrian royalty and nobility, with biographical details and extracts from historic documents.
A searchable database of linked genealogies compiled from thousands of reputable and not-so-reputable sources. Contains many details on European gentry & nobility, but covers many countries outside Europe and people from all walks of life.
A compilation of lineage-linked family trees submitted by Ancestry users. The database contains over 2 billion individuals and is searchable by numerous metrics.
The lineages of Pomeranian royalty and nobility, with biographical details and extracts from historic documents.
A searchable database of linked families. It largely covers royalty and nobility, but also contains actors, footballers and American presidents.
Germany Royalty, Nobility & Heraldry Records
The lineages of German, Dutch, Luxembourgish, Czech and Austrian royalty and nobility, with biographical details and extracts from historic documents.
A searchable database of linked genealogies compiled from thousands of reputable and not-so-reputable sources. Contains many details on European gentry & nobility, but covers many countries outside Europe and people from all walks of life.
A growing collection of heraldic and related clip art that can be used to reconstruct a families' arms. Includes packs for British, German, Austrian, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Polish, Portuguese, French, Swiss and Dutch arms. Images are available in a variety of formats including vectors.
The lineages of Pomeranian royalty and nobility, with biographical details and extracts from historic documents.
A searchable database of linked families. It largely covers royalty and nobility, but also contains actors, footballers and American presidents.
Germany Maps
An interactive index to thousands of maps covering the world, continents, countries and regions. The majority of maps cover Britain and Ireland.
Germany Reference Works
A growing collection of heraldic and related clip art that can be used to reconstruct a families' arms. Includes packs for British, German, Austrian, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Polish, Portuguese, French, Swiss and Dutch arms. Images are available in a variety of formats including vectors.
A database containing variants of 100,000s of given names used by Jews.
Historical Description
Germany is bounded on the West, with France and Belgium; on the North, with Denmark, and her Seas; on the East, with Prussia, Poland and Hungaria; and on the South, with the Alpes.
The compass of this spatious Countrey is 2600 English miles: the figure of it is almost an exact square, each side containing 650 miles.
Situation
It is situate in the Northern temperate Zone, under the 7 and 11 Climates; the longest day being 17 hours and an half.
Of all Europe this is the greatest Countrey, and beautified with the best and richest store of Cities, Towns and Castles, and Religious places.
Fertility
It also doth abound with many things necessary for life, and many things to be transported. They have Corn sufficient, and for Cattle they want not of all kinds, but they are commonly lean and little: so are their Horses many in number, but little in stature.
Commodity
The Commodities wherewith it is inriched, are Mines of silver, and other inferior Metals: Wines, which they transport into other Countreys, together with fresh Fish, Linnen, Quick-silver, Allum, Armors.
Natures of the People
The Inhabitants for honesty of conversation, probity of manners, assurance of loyalty, and confidence of disposition, setting aside their imperfect customes of drinking, excelling all people.
Germany is divided into the higher, and lower; the upper lying on the Alpes is subdivided into Austria, Bavaria, Suevia, Helvetia, (or Swizzerland,) and Alsatiae.
Germany is now a Federal Republic. Trade with the United Kingdom has been resumed, and during 1920 their imports from this country amounted to £50,685,000, their exports to us being £31,073,000. It may, however, still be useful to keep on record the pre-war situation. There had been a steady increase in the population for many years, and in 1910 it stood at 64,925,993. Of this number Prussia was credited with 40,163,333, and the three other kingdoms of Bavaria, Saxony, and Wurtemburg with 14,131,526. About 32 per cent, of the population was engaged in agricultural pursuits, but manufactures had, during recent years, rapidly increased. The principal products include coal, iron, copper, lead and zinc, also lignite and mineral salts in considerable quantities. The Imports from the United Kingdom in 1914 amounted to £36,431,273, consisting chiefly of metals, coal, woollen and cotton yarns, woollen stuffs, fur, tinplate and leather goods, and the Exports to a £47,049,343. In 1913, the year before the war, of imports of German sugar reached over ten million sterling, iron and steel manufactures over £4,000,000 leather over £2,000,000, musical instruments over £900,000, while toys and games amounted to over £1,000,000. The principal towns with a population exceeding 100,000 are: Berlin (1910) (2,070,695); Aix-la-Chapelle, Altona, Barmen, Bochum, Bremen, Breslau, Brunswick, Cassel, Charlottenburg, Chemnitz, Cologne, Crefeld, Dantzic, Dortmund, Dresden, Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Elberfeld, Essen, Frankfort-on-Main, Gelsenkirchen, Halle, Hamburg, Hanover, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Konigsberg, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Munich, Nuremberg, Plauen, Stuttgart and Wiesbaden.
Most Common Surnames in Germany
| Rank | Surname | Incidence | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Müller | 945,404 | 1:85 | |
| 2 | Schmidt | 712,881 | 1:113 | |
| 3 | Schneider | 437,827 | 1:184 | |
| 4 | Fischer | 374,260 | 1:215 | |
| 5 | Weber | 327,239 | 1:246 | |
| 6 | Meyer | 324,496 | 1:248 | |
| 7 | Wagner | 299,838 | 1:268 | |
| 8 | Becker | 280,423 | 1:287 | |
| 9 | Schulz | 278,916 | 1:289 | |
| 10 | Hoffmann | 275,891 | 1:292 | |
| 11 | Koch | 230,471 | 1:349 | |
| 12 | Richter | 229,569 | 1:351 | |
| 13 | Bauer | 225,707 | 1:357 | |
| 14 | Schäfer | 222,673 | 1:362 | |
| 15 | Klein | 200,299 | 1:402 | |
| 16 | Wolf | 195,172 | 1:412 | |
| 17 | Schröder | 188,859 | 1:426 | |
| 18 | Neumann | 180,118 | 1:447 | |
| 19 | Schwarz | 166,815 | 1:483 | |
| 20 | Braun | 165,592 | 1:486 | |
| 21 | Zimmermann | 163,406 | 1:493 | |
| 22 | Hofmann | 159,866 | 1:504 | |
| 23 | Lange | 159,346 | 1:505 | |
| 24 | Hartmann | 155,675 | 1:517 | |
| 25 | Krüger | 154,907 | 1:520 | |
| 26 | Krause | 151,218 | 1:532 | |
| 27 | Lehmann | 149,940 | 1:537 | |
| 28 | Schmitz | 148,664 | 1:542 | |
| 29 | Meier | 148,265 | 1:543 | |
| 30 | Schmitt | 148,138 | 1:543 | |
| 31 | Werner | 145,791 | 1:552 | |
| 32 | Schmid | 142,429 | 1:565 | |
| 33 | Schulze | 137,354 | 1:586 | |
| 34 | Maier | 135,544 | 1:594 | |
| 35 | Herrmann | 130,553 | 1:617 | |
| 36 | Mayer | 126,625 | 1:636 | |
| 37 | Köhler | 125,507 | 1:641 | |
| 38 | Walter | 125,228 | 1:643 | |
| 39 | König | 125,182 | 1:643 | |
| 40 | Huber | 124,400 | 1:647 | |
| 41 | Kaiser | 122,362 | 1:658 | |
| 42 | Peters | 122,017 | 1:660 | |
| 43 | Fuchs | 118,345 | 1:680 | |
| 44 | Möller | 113,584 | 1:709 | |
| 45 | Lang | 113,096 | 1:712 | |
| 46 | Scholz | 112,272 | 1:717 | |
| 47 | Jung | 106,649 | 1:755 | |
| 48 | Weiß | 104,983 | 1:767 | |
| 49 | Hahn | 103,826 | 1:775 | |
| 50 | Keller | 101,895 | 1:790 | |
| 51 | Berger | 100,833 | 1:798 | |
| 52 | Vogel | 100,244 | 1:803 | |
| 53 | Schubert | 100,193 | 1:804 | |
| 54 | Friedrich | 99,115 | 1:812 | |
| 55 | Frank | 97,071 | 1:829 | |
| 56 | Roth | 96,459 | 1:835 | |
| 57 | Winkler | 95,782 | 1:841 | |
| 58 | Beck | 94,995 | 1:847 | |
| 59 | Günther | 94,874 | 1:849 | |
| 60 | Lorenz | 93,636 | 1:860 | |
| 61 | Baumann | 88,038 | 1:914 | |
| 62 | Franke | 86,041 | 1:936 | |
| 63 | Albrecht | 85,048 | 1:947 | |
| 64 | Ludwig | 81,368 | 1:989 | |
| 65 | Winter | 81,271 | 1:991 | |
| 66 | Simon | 80,942 | 1:995 | |
| 67 | Schuster | 80,620 | 1:999 | |
| 68 | Schumacher | 79,965 | 1:1,007 | |
| 69 | Kraus | 79,427 | 1:1,014 | |
| 70 | Böhm | 78,636 | 1:1,024 | |
| 71 | Vogt | 77,326 | 1:1,041 | |
| 72 | Martin | 76,395 | 1:1,054 | |
| 73 | Stein | 75,606 | 1:1,065 | |
| 74 | Jäger | 74,486 | 1:1,081 | |
| 75 | Sommer | 74,298 | 1:1,084 | |
| 76 | Krämer | 73,859 | 1:1,090 | |
| 77 | Brandt | 72,510 | 1:1,110 | |
| 78 | Otto | 72,451 | 1:1,111 | |
| 79 | Heinrich | 71,122 | 1:1,132 | |
| 80 | Schulte | 70,614 | 1:1,140 | |
| 81 | Graf | 70,420 | 1:1,143 | |
| 82 | Haas | 70,059 | 1:1,149 | |
| 83 | Seidel | 70,000 | 1:1,150 | |
| 84 | Schreiber | 68,756 | 1:1,171 | |
| 85 | Groß | 68,355 | 1:1,178 | |
| 86 | Dietrich | 67,066 | 1:1,200 | |
| 87 | Engel | 66,184 | 1:1,216 | |
| 88 | Ziegler | 65,155 | 1:1,236 | |
| 89 | Horn | 63,471 | 1:1,268 | |
| 90 | Bergmann | 63,046 | 1:1,277 | |
| 91 | Pohl | 62,658 | 1:1,285 | |
| 92 | Kuhn | 62,611 | 1:1,286 | |
| 93 | Jansen | 62,427 | 1:1,290 | |
| 94 | Voigt | 62,091 | 1:1,297 | |
| 95 | Kühn | 61,689 | 1:1,305 | |
| 96 | Beyer | 60,934 | 1:1,321 | |
| 97 | Busch | 60,859 | 1:1,323 | |
| 98 | Thomas | 60,694 | 1:1,326 | |
| 99 | Hansen | 60,420 | 1:1,332 | |
| 100 | Lindner | 59,917 | 1:1,344 | |
| 101 | Arnold | 59,851 | 1:1,345 | |
| 102 | Sauer | 59,675 | 1:1,349 | |
| 103 | Kramer | 59,497 | 1:1,353 | |
| 104 | Wolff | 59,154 | 1:1,361 | |
| 105 | Seifert | 58,629 | 1:1,373 | |
| 106 | Hübner | 58,558 | 1:1,375 | |
| 107 | Ernst | 58,364 | 1:1,379 | |
| 108 | Pfeiffer | 58,170 | 1:1,384 | |
| 109 | Wenzel | 56,131 | 1:1,434 | |
| 110 | Franz | 55,520 | 1:1,450 | |
| 111 | Nagel | 55,094 | 1:1,461 | |
| 112 | Kern | 55,003 | 1:1,464 | |
| 113 | Barth | 54,857 | 1:1,468 | |
| 114 | Peter | 54,559 | 1:1,476 | |
| 115 | Götz | 54,492 | 1:1,477 | |
| 116 | Paul | 54,043 | 1:1,490 | |
| 117 | Hermann | 53,866 | 1:1,495 | |
| 118 | Kruse | 53,466 | 1:1,506 | |
| 119 | Riedel | 53,458 | 1:1,506 | |
| 120 | Ott | 52,774 | 1:1,525 | |
| 121 | Haase | 52,368 | 1:1,537 | |
| 122 | Petersen | 52,135 | 1:1,544 | |
| 123 | Langer | 52,081 | 1:1,546 | |
| 124 | Lenz | 52,067 | 1:1,546 | |
| 125 | Grimm | 51,666 | 1:1,558 | |
| 126 | Hoppe | 51,310 | 1:1,569 | |
| 127 | Bock | 51,235 | 1:1,571 | |
| 128 | Arndt | 51,229 | 1:1,571 | |
| 129 | Jahn | 51,104 | 1:1,575 | |
| 130 | Wilhelm | 51,072 | 1:1,576 | |
| 131 | Mohr | 50,869 | 1:1,583 | |
| 132 | Ritter | 50,786 | 1:1,585 | |
| 133 | Schumann | 49,980 | 1:1,611 | |
| 134 | Fiedler | 49,758 | 1:1,618 | |
| 135 | Kaufmann | 49,697 | 1:1,620 | |
| 136 | Kraft | 48,790 | 1:1,650 | |
| 137 | Förster | 48,759 | 1:1,651 | |
| 138 | Berg | 48,703 | 1:1,653 | |
| 139 | Thiel | 48,697 | 1:1,653 | |
| 140 | Miller | 48,248 | 1:1,669 | |
| 141 | Michel | 47,476 | 1:1,696 | |
| 142 | Marx | 47,299 | 1:1,702 | |
| 143 | Walther | 47,085 | 1:1,710 | |
| 144 | Lutz | 46,977 | 1:1,714 | |
| 145 | Sander | 46,824 | 1:1,719 | |
| 146 | Fritz | 46,495 | 1:1,731 | |
| 147 | Eckert | 46,406 | 1:1,735 | |
| 148 | Thiele | 46,171 | 1:1,744 | |
| 149 | Böttcher | 45,603 | 1:1,765 | |
| 150 | Reuter | 45,169 | 1:1,782 | |
| 151 | Reinhardt | 45,012 | 1:1,789 | |
| 152 | Beckmann | 44,343 | 1:1,816 | |
| 153 | Schilling | 44,325 | 1:1,816 | |
| 154 | Schindler | 44,022 | 1:1,829 | |
| 155 | Frey | 43,712 | 1:1,842 | |
| 156 | Hein | 43,518 | 1:1,850 | |
| 157 | Ebert | 43,462 | 1:1,852 | |
| 158 | Hesse | 43,403 | 1:1,855 | |
| 159 | Behrens | 42,981 | 1:1,873 | |
| 160 | Schütz | 42,904 | 1:1,876 | |
| 161 | Kunz | 42,611 | 1:1,889 | |
| 162 | Schramm | 42,387 | 1:1,899 | |
| 163 | Herzog | 42,232 | 1:1,906 | |
| 164 | Rudolph | 42,039 | 1:1,915 | |
| 165 | Gruber | 41,059 | 1:1,961 | |
| 166 | Bayer | 40,974 | 1:1,965 | |
| 167 | Kunze | 40,950 | 1:1,966 | |
| 168 | Witt | 40,940 | 1:1,966 | |
| 169 | Fröhlich | 40,932 | 1:1,967 | |
| 170 | Nowak | 40,637 | 1:1,981 | |
| 171 | Geiger | 40,128 | 1:2,006 | |
| 172 | Stephan | 40,017 | 1:2,012 | |
| 173 | Maurer | 39,801 | 1:2,023 | |
| 174 | Bender | 39,166 | 1:2,055 | |
| 175 | Seitz | 39,045 | 1:2,062 | |
| 176 | Schultz | 38,961 | 1:2,066 | |
| 177 | Bachmann | 38,854 | 1:2,072 | |
| 178 | Adam | 38,717 | 1:2,079 | |
| 179 | Brinkmann | 38,433 | 1:2,095 | |
| 180 | Fink | 38,250 | 1:2,105 | |
| 181 | Kirchner | 38,102 | 1:2,113 | |
| 182 | Stahl | 38,004 | 1:2,118 | |
| 183 | Ullrich | 38,001 | 1:2,119 | |
| 184 | Gerlach | 37,838 | 1:2,128 | |
| 185 | Breuer | 37,813 | 1:2,129 | |
| 186 | Steiner | 37,715 | 1:2,135 | |
| 187 | Gärtner | 37,567 | 1:2,143 | |
| 188 | Büttner | 37,480 | 1:2,148 | |
| 189 | Dietz | 36,689 | 1:2,194 | |
| 190 | Scherer | 36,573 | 1:2,201 | |
| 191 | Bruns | 36,562 | 1:2,202 | |
| 192 | Kurz | 36,463 | 1:2,208 | |
| 193 | Naumann | 36,391 | 1:2,212 | |
| 194 | Moser | 36,331 | 1:2,216 | |
| 195 | Brand | 36,318 | 1:2,217 | |
| 196 | Böhme | 36,211 | 1:2,223 | |
| 197 | Reichert | 36,182 | 1:2,225 | |
| 198 | Schlüter | 36,165 | 1:2,226 | |
| 199 | Ulrich | 35,900 | 1:2,242 | |
| 200 | Löffler | 35,757 | 1:2,251 | |